Lumberjacks Are Athletes, Too—And Their Workouts Will Kick Your Ass

Matt Cogar and Nathan Waterfield certainly think so—and after checking out their workouts and competitions, you'll probably agree. They’re two of several lumberjack athletes who are currently training for the qualifying stages of the grueling STIHL Timbersports Series season, which will hold its US championship in Milwaukee later this summer. The professional series for lumberjack sports is essentially what the NFL is to football, making its title equivalent to the lumberjack the Super Bowl.

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The event, which was established in 1985, is watched by over 20 million viewers around the globe annually. There, the athletes compete in three chopping and three sawing (two motorized, one manual) disciplines for the chance to be crowned the “Original Extreme Sport” king.

The lumberjack sports circuit has a punishing schedule, with shows around the country all year round. All disciplines are timed with the most points awarded to the competitor who finishes each event the quickest—so explosive power and speed are rewarded more than brawn.

That grind and the emphasis on speed means competitors can’t simply count on natural brute size and strength, the way Paul Bunyan did in great American folklore. “You have to have a little bit of that natural strength, absolutely, but you can only do so much naturally,” Cogar tells Menshealth.com.

In addition to practicing the disciplines, guys like Cogar and Waterfield have built more traditional workout regimens specific to their goals as lumberjack athletes.

“I use a workout routine to build myself up and be a little more athletic," Cogar says. "At this point in the game, everybody is sort of pushing each other like, ‘What can I do to get one up on the next guy and find that edge?’ What you do in conjunction with your typical training is what makes a difference. It’s 50 percent training with all the disciplines, 50 percent work in the gym.”

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We caught up with Cogar and Waterfield in the lead up to the STIHL Timbersports season, and they explained exactly how specific exercises they perform in the gym correlate to the chopping and sawing disciplines they take on as lumberjack athletes.

Matt Cogar’s Go-To Exercises

Cogar hoisting the title trophy.

STIHL TIMBERSPORTS

Cogar has won the series an unprecedented five years in a row, excelling at the chopping events such as the Standing Block Chop, Underhand Chop and Springboard Chop. Standing 6'4" and 245 pounds, he uses his stature and natural power to decimate lumber.

Squats

3 sets, 8-12 reps

Cogar believes squats especially correlate to the Standing Block Chop. “You’ll be chopping in the standing block and because the movement is coming from your toes all the way up to your core and to the axe, really your legs will be the first to go,” Cogar says. “So, building up that lower portion to translate any energy from the ground up really helps. That’s where I feel like squats come into play.”

Tricep Pushdown/Extensions

3 sets, 8-12 reps

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During his high school days, Cogar remembers being told, “the quicker the tricep, the quicker the bicep.” The quote stuck with him to this day and he believes the tricep pushdown and tricep extension mimic the push-and-pull movements in chopping and sawing events, especially with “getting from that finished hit back into the swing.”

Rowing Machine

5-7 minutes, 30 second intervals

The Single Buck is the only discipline in the STIHL Timbersports Series in which competitors manually saw through wood, with 19 inches of thick lumber between them and victory.

Cogar hits the rowing machine for sprints to simulate the movement for that discipline.

“Most of the pull stroke of the Single Buck is done with the back,” he explains. “You have to keep your shoulders locked in and activated while you pull with a full back extension and then once you get to the back as far as you can go, then your arms really take over from there. There’s a lot of force and torque on the saw. If you’re stronger at those points, it makes it a lot easier throughout the whole movement.”

As much as rowing help Cogar’s mechanics, they also help his cardio. He says he’ll do 30 seconds of hard rowing on the machine followed by 30 seconds of intermediary steady rowing for five to seven minutes.

Planks

5 sets, 30 seconds each

Every lumberjack sport discipline requires you to be on your feet, making your core crucial for rotating your body to land that axe with each swing or simply stand and saw through with balance. Planks help with both, according to Cogar.

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“A lot of your power is actually released and directed out of your core, especially for the Standing Block Chop, Single Buck and Springboard Chop because in those events you’re rotating around your center core, but also you want to develop enough rotational power to accomplish your goal. The planks hold your core together.”

Cable Rotational Chops

3 sets, 8-12 reps

Every lumberjack athlete wants that extra oomph at the end of each chopping swing. Cogar believes doing cable rotational chops help him “to go through that full swing,” and with power.

For those who want to simulate the Underhand Chop, which has competitors axing a block of wood that they’re standing on, Cogar recommends mounting a tire vertically and pounding it with a sledgehammer.

Nathan Waterfield’s Go-To Exercises

Nathan Waterfield trains hard for competition.

STIHL TIMBERSPORTS

On the other side of the scale is the 5'10", 190 pound Waterfield, one of the smaller competitors on the circuit. He compensates for his lack of size by honing his explosive power, using exercises that complement his axe-swinging prowess.

Kettlebell Massive Swings

Two minutes, 24 reps

The Springboard Chop requires competitors to axe their way up a nine-foot vertical log, using their own cuts to insert thin wooden springboards as planks until they reach the top.

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“The amount of core strength you need to balance on the board while swinging is pretty intense,” admits Waterfield. He says that he trains to for that core strength and control by doing kettlebell massive swings, swinging a 24kg bell (roughly 53 pounds) between his feet all the way above his head, aiming for 24 reps in two minutes—without ever returning the weight to the floor the floor.

Box Jumps

Two minutes, as many reps as possible (AMRAP)

That same Springboard Chop has competitors jumping up onto the springboard plank as they ascend up the wooden pole. To address the jumping part of the discipline, Waterfield sets up a 30-inch box and performs as many box jumps as possible for two minutes straight.

Although the box jumps help with the Springboard Chop, in particular, Waterfield claims they help him with every discipline. “If you don’t have good leg strength with a good base and foundation, it doesn’t matter how strong your core or upper body is,” he says.

“I see younger guys when they get started who are quite strong in their upper body, but don’t have much leg strength. When they’re chopping, they’re moving all over the place, their feet are flying, their heads are moving everywhere. They don’t have stability from their legs to really hold them in place.” In other words, lumberjack athletes can’t afford to skip leg day.

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Kettlebell Clean And Squat

Two minutes, AMRAP

Waterfield says he also strengthens his legs for events by performing as many kettlebell (24kg) clean and squat reps as possible for two minutes. “If my legs are really fatigued, I’ll just widen or change my stance within that two-minute interval.”

Pullups/Chinups

Two minutes, AMRAP

Like Cogar, Waterfield simulates the push-and-pull movements of the Single Buck via rowing. But he also mimics the movement by maxing out on pullups and chin-ups each over a two-minute period. “I go to failure and try to drain myself within that two-minute time frame,” he says. “The longest we would compete in any event is a minute.” So, he’s basically overcompensating with his training.

Shoveling/Mowing The Lawn

Waterfield doesn't just restrict his training to the gym—his competition has roots in hard outdoor work, so when he labors in his everyday life, he makes the job a workout.

He exaggerates the movements of household chores such as shoveling the yard or mowing the lawn to correlate to the push-and-pull movements found in lumberjack sports’ chopping and sawing disciplines.

“Rather than just doing the typical shoveling movement, I’ll correlate the movement in the discipline, so more full-hip rotation when I do day-to-day chores. Longer strides and hip rotation while mowing the lawn,” Waterfield says. “Really pronouncing whole body movements with your day-to-day chores can be beneficial in terms of keeping your range of movement where it needs to be and incorporating stretching into what you’re doing.” Pretty crafty.

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